


Cooking With (a) Fire(man)

by literaryoblivion



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [125]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, College Student Stiles, Cooking, Cooking Lessons, Firefighter Derek, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8155609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryoblivion/pseuds/literaryoblivion
Summary: After a kitchen accident in his dorm, Stiles is forced to take a cooking class as punishment and ends up meeting a very attractive fireman to share his cooking station with... and maybe a few other things.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on the following prompt: " I know just how you feel about wanting simple happy fluff to counter the horrors of the real world. See if any of these appeal to you. My preferred pairing is Sterek, but you can substitute as you like. “You have something on your face” OR “I can’t have a kitten” OR “So this is what it feels like!” OR “I can’t believe they made me take a cooking class. Well, I’m going to make it fun my own way!" (If none of these trigger your imagination, then I look forward to reading whatever else you write.)"
> 
> I used all of them lol. The tumblr post for this can be found [here](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com/post/151052688683/i-know-just-how-you-feel-about-wanting-simple).

Stiles begrudgingly trudged into the class, scanning the room for an empty station. He wasn’t sure how big the class was, had just signed up for the first available spot to get this over with. Because his dorm hall advisor is a mean and his RA is a rascal and as punishment for what was very obviously an accident involving the oven and something resembling a hot pocket, they made him sign up for a cooking class. Any cooking class in fact as long as it made him use someone else’s kitchen and he learned something.

He grumbles to himself as he sits at one of the empty cooking stations. “I can’t believe they made me take a cooking class.” He looks around and so far only about half the stations are filled, most of them are couples making googley-eyes at each other over their hot plates. Great, he signed up for a couple’s cooking class.

“Whatever,” he says to himself, eying the empty seat next to him. “I’m going to make it fun my own way!”

He’s not quite sure how he will do that, but he’s sure he’ll be inspired by something before the course is through.

A few more couples straggle in, and Stiles takes his time studying the pre-measured ingredients in front of him on the table. He can’t quite remember what they’re supposed to be cooking in this class, but by the ingredients it looks like it’s some kind of chicken and pasta combo, which seems like a fairly simple thing to put together. He’s seen those videos on Facebook; he honestly doesn’t need this class. Really, the bonus to this whole arrangement was that he was getting free food out of it because he duped his RA into paying for the class for him, for the benefit of the entire dorm of course.

Glancing up at the clock at the front of the room, he realizes there’s only a few minutes left before the class is supposed to start. By now, most of the other stations are filled, but the seat next to him remains empty. The teacher still hasn’t showed, and Stiles figures he has enough time to run to the restroom across the hall before they start. He leaves his backpack on his seat so some couple doesn’t come in and steal his spot and relegate him to the very back and rushes to the bathroom.

When he gets back, his seat is still occupied by his bag, but the seat next to it is taken by some guy. As he gets closer, he realizes that the guy is very clearly buff–Stiles can make out the muscles he has under his tight shirt–and he’s incredibly attractive, stubble along his jaw, black-framed glasses that make him look like Clark Kent, and hair that would be perfect to run fingers through.

It takes Stiles a moment to actually approach his seat, he’s so taken aback by the beauty before him and the dread that he’s totally going to end up catching this guy’s amazing eyebrows on fire by the end of the night. Maybe he should just subtly grab his backpack and position himself in the back by himself just to be safe.

Unfortunately that plan fails when the guy turns to him and smiles when he sees Stiles with his hand on his bag.

“Hi. Oh, is that yours? I hope you don’t mind me sitting here with you? Unless you were saving this for someone?” the guy says and then gives Stiles another smile, and Stiles is pretty sure he’s melting. Or having a heart attack. Something.

“Uh… yeah. I mean, hi! No, it’s fine. I didn’t realize this was a couple’s cooking class, so I don’t have anyone. That I’m waiting on.”

The guy smiles and holds his hand out. “I’m Derek.”

Stiles shakes it, “I’m Stiles.” He expects Derek to make a face at the name, everyone always does, but he just nods and smiles.

“Nice to meet you.” He waits until Stiles is fully on his seat before continuing. “I originally signed up to take this with my sister, but she couldn’t make it because of work.”

Normally, Stiles would just nod and say something like “Oh that’s too bad,” and then ignore the random guy because really he came to cook not to have a conversation. But Derek is not just any guy and Stiles decides then and there that his goal is to get Derek’s number by the end of the night.

“Oh? What does she do?” Stiles asks because that’s his in. He’s so got this. He might even get Derek’s number before the pasta is even done boiling.

“She works at an animal hospital. I think someone brought in a cat going into labor last minute, so she had to stay. I’m sure she’ll be sending me pictures of the litter of kittens any minute to tempt me because it’s not like we don’t have two cats and a dog already.”

Oh god. This is not good. Not only is the guy hot but he’s also a sucker for cute animals? Stiles wants to take him home with him right now. “I can’t have a kitten!” Stiles blurts out instead, which wow so smooth, Stilinski.

Derek raises his eyebrows at the outburst and looks a little confused. “Uh okay? Well, I’m sure they’ll be able to find good homes for the kittens. Don’t worry about it.”

Stiles lets out a nervous awkward laugh, geez, where is this teacher because he needs to stuff his mouth with food now so he doesn’t say anything else embarrassing. “Right, yeah. I mean, I live in a dorm, so you know, no pets. I totally would take a kitten though. They’re adorable.”

“Yeah,” Derek says around a smile, his eyes downcast to the side as if he’s picturing kittens at his feet.

Finally, the teacher comes in and calls the class to attention and begins introducing himself.

Stiles and Derek follow along with the instructions, each chopping the ingredients in front of them and pouring and whisking and boiling as needed. They make small talk that is definitely flirty while the teacher goes around the stations to help others, and Stiles finds out Derek’s a firefighter who occasionally does the cooking at the firehouse, which is why he signed up for the class.

“You know, I’ve never been carried by a fireman before,” Stiles says, wiggling his eyes suggestively.

“I think that’s probably a good thing. It means you haven’t needed to be,” Derek says sagely, which makes Stiles roll his eyes because come on.

“You won’t give me even a little demonstration? Just so I can say I’ve had the experience?” He bats his eyelashes and rests his chin on his hand.

Derek sighs but Stiles can see a slight blush on his cheeks and the look of a man who is probably going to give in. So Derek has a soft spot for kittens and Stiles. Duly noted.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” he says after a moment. “We’ll see.”

It’s good enough. He’ll take it.

They move on to other subjects and when they have to put their dishes in the oven to bake for a while, the teacher dismisses them for a small break. Stiles of course follows Derek out into the hall because they were mid-conversation debating on whether or not Batman or Iron Man was better and Stiles is determined to have Derek see his side.

Before he realizes it, he’s followed Derek further down the hall, farther away from the other students. Derek stops and turns around, his arms open in front of him.

“Okay, come on,” he says, gesturing for Stiles to come forward.

“Um, what? What are you doing?”

“Did you not want to experience a fireman carry?” Derek asks innocently, although Stiles is pretty sure he’s faking the innocence.

“Oh! No, I mean yes, yes. Let’s do this!” Stiles says, restraining himself from running and jumping into Derek’s arms. Instead he comes to stand in front of Derek, waiting for him to either do something or give him instruction.

“Okay, stand here,” Derek says, moving Stiles to where he wants with hands on his shoulders. Then without warning, Derek is bending his knees and wrapping his arm around Stiles’s legs, his other hand holding on to Stiles’s arm.

And suddenly Stiles is totally in the air, his body resting on Derek’s shoulders.

“Wow, so this is what it feels like,” Stiles says, breathless. Derek chuckles a little and Stiles can feel it. It’s weird.

Gently, Derek sets Stiles back down and stands straight again, a small smile on his face. “We don’t really do that lift in a real fire because of the smoke, but sometimes if someone is injured and we have to carry them to safety we do.” He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly like telling Stiles this information is embarrassing. Honestly, Stiles finds it adorable.

“Good to know. I won’t demand a fireman carry me that way if I’m ever in a fire.”

“You seem to think you’ll be in fires often. Should I be worried?” Derek says as they go back to the kitchens with everyone else.

“It may have been a factor as to why I signed up for this class?”

Derek’s eyes widen at that. “You’re okay though?”

“Yeah, yeah of course. I didn’t actually catch anything on fire, it was just close. Lots of smoke, no fire. But yeah, they thought it’d be a good idea if I learned some cooking basics so it wouldn’t happen again.”

Derek nods and holds the door open for Stiles, following him over to their station. Their timer has one more minute before it goes off, but it smells delicious. Others are pulling out their finished dishes and some are even risking tasting it even though it’s nowhere near cool enough to eat yet.

When the time finally goes off, Stiles lets Derek do the honors of taking it out of the oven, mainly so he can see Derek bend down to pull it out. They talk a few minutes more while it cools, taking turns fanning a paper plate over it in the hopes that it’ll cool it down faster. They had admitted to each other earlier that they hadn’t eaten, and both of them were ready to eat the fruits of their labor as soon as possible.

After deeming it cool enough to dish out a piece and eat, Stiles takes a bite of it first and moans both because it’s delicious and also he was that hungry. When he opens his eyes, Derek is staring at him, mouth open.

“What?” Stiles says.

“You, um, nothing,” Derek says, quickly shoving a bite into his own mouth. He doesn’t moan, but Stiles can tell that he enjoys it by the fluttering of his eyelashes against his cheek.

They both eat their pieces quickly as others have started packing up to leave. They split the dish between two to-go boxes, one for each of them, to take home. Stiles is about to gather the rest of his things to leave, but he looks up to find Derek standing right in front of him.

“You uh… you have something on your face,” Derek says, already bring his palm up to Stiles and wiping away a bit of sauce from Stiles’s cheek with his thumb.

He can feel his cheeks heat. “Uh, thanks,” Stiles says, a little embarrassed that he’s such a messy eater. Derek shrugs like it’s not a big deal and they both leave, one of the last few people left. They walk in silence outside to the parking lot, and when they reach the edge, both of them stop, hesitating from going any further and parting ways.

“Do you, uh, have to get home?” Derek asks, looking down at his shoes.

Stiles grins. “I’m not in any hurry. Why?”

“Do you maybe want to get some dessert with me somewhere?”

“Dessert with you sounds perfect.”

Derek beams and Stiles smiles right back at him. Derek takes his hand and leads him to his car, and Stiles tries to calm his excitement.

“You know what else sounds perfect?” Derek asks when they’re getting buckled into his car.

“Hmm?”

“Dinner with you that doesn’t involve either of us cooking it. Maybe this week sometime?”

Stiles bites back a grin and reaches to take Derek’s hand. “I like the way you think. I’m gonna keep you.”

Derek blushes and Stiles doesn’t stop himself from leaning over and kissing Derek’s cheek. It makes Derek blush more, but he tries to play it off and busy himself with the radio before pulling out of the parking lot.

Dessert is ice cream and more kisses, and Stiles thinks he’ll have to thank his RA for having such a great idea with the cooking class.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [my tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com) and my [my twitter](http://twitter.com/lit_oblivion).


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